Need string suggestion for older friend

He going on 60 now and he needs a more arm friendly string. He has been using big banger orignial since it came out. He loves the string and doesnt want to part with it but might have to as his shoulder has been giving some pain now.

The guy is an absolute great player. Ive seen him beat up on college players and teaching pros. Hes also incredibly fast and mobile for his age.

Im pretty sure what hes looking for is something with comparable control qualities but a little easier on the arm. Anyone have a suggestion?

Personally I don't think it makes much sense to suggest a poly of any kind if there are arm/shoulder/wrist problems. Even at low tensions poly is still stiffer than a multi. Go with the multi recommendations.

I would think the best setup would be gut mains and blackcode crosses. It is soft on the arm, tremendose spin, plenty of pop. You didn't mention his current tension, but if it is say... 50lbs with full poly (guessing a 100 sq racquet), try gut mains at 56, blackcode crosses at 52. Larger racket-- up tension 2lbs for every 5 sq. in (okay, its a guesstamate). Good gut such as vs will last a long time. Just cut out the crosses when they lose their snap ( cut the crosses after the racquet is secured in the stringer) and he might get 50 hours out of the mains, maybe more. Not too bad pricewise compared to what he was playing. 1/2 set vs for $20 plus 1 and 1/2 set of blackcode for $20. A little more than 3 sets of the lux.

If he's as good as the OP says he is, it would take him a day to adjust to the multi...probably less. I have 4 sticks strung right now; in two of them I'm comparing Gosen with S-gut. In the other two I have Scorpion and SPPP Hexa. Yep, there's a distinct difference between the two, but when you have sound fundamentals and good technique, making the adjustment isn't that big of a deal. It's not like trying to wean someone off intravenous pain killers or something lol.

Senior myself - congratulate your friend for keeping it up in style. I, too, avoid the polys after the warning signs flashed with my shoulder.
I'd like to know his frame choice, size and pattern. For me, my old school, neutral grip game loves heavier, smaller, and densely strung frames. Many of us like more lively strings with smaller frames - good flat power and spin variety and flatter first serves. Remember an old article in Tennis Mag in the 80s - the more neutral gripped pros liked stiffer graphite (not nearly as stiff as today), lead tape, and loose gut. Pretty true then and now...
If he is of this school - the new guts play much stiffer it seems that prior guts - try a new generation power multi - Mantis Comfort or Weis cannon or others. I even like a cheap hybrid of Head Fibergel Mains and Gamma SG crosses ( a $5 string job). String tensions are at middle range.
Joints are fine now and power is easy to dial up and control. Congrats to him and you - that's my 2 cents...

Depends if he needs something just a little softer or a lot softer.
For just a little softer he can hybrid with a multi like AlphaGut2000. I don't notice a whole lot of dropoff in spin with my ALU when I hybrid it with the AlphaGut.
Something like Fluoro or Black Widow will also give a little help.

For more softness, I'd go to Gut/poly next. Definitely more power and similar if not more spin. He'd have to take a bit to adjust to the higher power, but he might love it.
A soft multi would work great for the arm (as, of course, would all gut), but he might not like the lower spin.

I'm not saying that he can't adjust to multi if he wants to.
He may not want to because of the huge difference in performance.
There are many fine, modern co-polys that are far more arm-friendly than BBO and are still in the same control/spin ballpark.

Personally I don't think it makes much sense to suggest a poly of any kind if there are arm/shoulder/wrist problems. Even at low tensions poly is still stiffer than a multi. Go with the multi recommendations.

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+1, absolutely. Tecnifibre's Multifeel may be a good transition string for him. For deeper problems, tell him to go with Gamma's TNT Rx--which is the only Gamma string I'd be found recommending...